Shane McBride

Chef, Cherche Midi and Balthazar

Shane McBride grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida where he developed his cooking skills out of necessity. Though she tried, his mom's attempts in the kitchen were often unsuccessful and Shane would step in to save the meal. At age 18, he secured his first job in a professional kitchen at Narcissus in West Palm Beach, where he worked his way up from garde marger to sous chef.

His first mentor, chef Todd Jent, helped instill Shane's career-long desire to constantly strive higher and seek out new challenges. This drive, along with knowledge of classic French cooking techniques and a love of simple, straightforward flavors, led McBride into a roster of the most prestigious restaurant kitchens in the country, including Aureole with Chef Charlie Palmer, Lespinasse with Chef Christian Delouvrier and Craftsteak with chef/owner Tom Colicchio.

In 1995, Shane joined chef Hubert Demarias kitchen at The Restaurant and The Bistro in West Palm Beach Four Seasons Resort before enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America, where he graduated on the Dean's List in 1998. His externship took him to New Orleans Windsor Court Hotel the only five-diamond, five-star property in Louisiana where he learned from chef Jeff Tunks.

One of his first positions in New York was at Aureole, where he worked as a line cook for two years under chef Charlie Palmer. Shane then entered the service of chef Christian Delouvrier as the executive sous chef at world-renowned Lespinasse. While there, he met the restaurant's director, Jean-Philippe Leloup, with whom he would later open Oceo.

Oceo was Shane's first experience as executive chef, and the position helped him to develop his personal style of management. After three years, the owners closed the restaurant and Shane was able to turn in a new direction when Oceo re-opened as 7SQUARE, a traditional American chophouse. After sixteen years in French kitchens, Shane was happy to focus on simple American dishes that highlighted the true flavors of the ingredients.

He continued this focus at Craftsteak, bringing his knowledge of traditional techniques and skill with seasonal ingredients to his position as chef de cuisine. While working for Tom Colicchio, Shane helped to open Craftsteak at the MGM at Foxwoods. And also developed the Halfsteak at Craftsteak, a budget minded mini restaurant in Craftsteaks' bar. In a surprise move Colicchio closed Craftsteak and reopened it as Colicchio & Sons in which Shane was instrumental in gaining the restaurant three stars from The New York Times.

For his next move Shane joined Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson at Keith McNally's Soho gem Balthazar. Bringing along with him a solid background of fine French cuisine and a drive to bring the finest local ingredients he hopes to continue the restaurants legacy for many years to come.

In his free time, Shane, a self-admitted barbecue addict has assembled some like-minded chef friends of his and started the Ribdiculous Bar-B-Krewe a NYC based competition BBQ team. The Krewe competes at Memphis in May every year and has won first place in the hot wing competition. You can also see Ribdiculous on Destination Americas "BBQ PITMASTERS." Shane is currently Executive Chef at Balthazar and Schillerís, and co-Executive Chef at Cherche Midi.